Also looking at "Fifth Avenue" by Christopher Smith, another book set in NY. Anyone read it?

David Baldacci? Worth trying one by him?

Still haven't read Under the Dome or JFK by King either.

Also - just finished one of the best books I've ever read in my life. "Intensity" by Koontz. Old school CLASSIC Koontz. Really an amazing book. Was the highest rated Koontz book on goodreads.com I hadn't read, and one of the 4-5 greatest books I've read.

"It's like dating a woman who hates you so much she will never break up with you, even if you burn down the house every single autumn." ~ Chuck Klosterman on Browns fans relationship with the Browns

Also looking at "Fifth Avenue" by Christopher Smith, another book set in NY. Anyone read it?

David Baldacci? Worth trying one by him?

Still haven't read Under the Dome or JFK by King either.

Also - just finished one of the best books I've ever read in my life. "Intensity" by Koontz. Old school CLASSIC Koontz. Really an amazing book. Was the highest rated Koontz book on goodreads.com I hadn't read, and one of the 4-5 greatest books I've read.

Did you read his "Odd Thomas" series? I enjoyed those too. First two more so than last two.

Also looking at "Fifth Avenue" by Christopher Smith, another book set in NY. Anyone read it?

David Baldacci? Worth trying one by him?

Still haven't read Under the Dome or JFK by King either.

Also - just finished one of the best books I've ever read in my life. "Intensity" by Koontz. Old school CLASSIC Koontz. Really an amazing book. Was the highest rated Koontz book on goodreads.com I hadn't read, and one of the 4-5 greatest books I've read.

Did you read his "Odd Thomas" series? I enjoyed those too. First two more so than last two.

I haven't. Not sure why. Reviews on them are great, as are the aggregate rankings on goodreads. IMO, his older stuff is much better than his newer stuff (overall), and I think that combined with the fact its a series and longer time investment is why I've stayed away.

Have read pretty much everything else by him.

His older stuff is amazing. Dude can paint a picture, build suspense, and make paranormal situations seem so GD realistic.

"It's like dating a woman who hates you so much she will never break up with you, even if you burn down the house every single autumn." ~ Chuck Klosterman on Browns fans relationship with the Browns

swerb wrote:Heading to FL w the family for a week. Gonna be a lot of pool/beer/Kindle time. Any good suggestions separate from some of the ones in here?I like King, Koontz, Clancy. Not a big fan of Patterson and the other wanna bes. Prefer fiction thrillers. Mystery/suspense.

But I couldn't freaking take the girlfriend and that entire story in the Third Option. It so annoyed me that I stopped after that one. Unless someone tells me they kill her I can't read any more of 'em.

In case no one has told you yet, they kill her eventually.

You cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they could and should do for themselves-----Abe Lincoln

Let me tell you, if any of you douchebag empty headed stuffed suit nanny politicians tries to fuck with my bacon, I’m going after you like a crazed chimpanzee on bath salts. -----Lars

I take a lot of suggestions I find here and read them when I can. I had a VA trip this week and needed sommething for the flight there and back and for any downtime.

I am NOT a zombie culture guy at all but I saw the book at the library and remembered the recommendation.

This book is not a zombie book. It's a tremendous commentary on politics and media with the zombies as the tie that binds.

Two drugs that were created, one that wiped out common cold and one that wiped out cancer apparently combined to create the zombie virus. Huge Rising, almost apocalyptic, new era starts with crazy groth in disease testing technology, looks at relationships, trust, ratings-driven whores, distrust of mainstream media, "liberal" vs. "religious right" method of dealing with the situation, the whole nine yards.

I can't tell you how well the thing is done. I really enjoyed it when I thought there was no effing way I would. I don't know if the author intended for all of that and to write such an effective allegorical read (at least the first book, anyway) or she wrote a zombie book that turned into this by accident, but I'm already reading the second one on the trilogy, called "Deadline".

Most chapters begin or end (or both) with one of the main characters 'blog post' about what's going on. Those would be worth the read alone.

Very good book.

YMMV

Just finished with the 3rd book in the Trilogy. It was excellent, and Peeks put it much better than I could.

I take a lot of suggestions I find here and read them when I can. I had a VA trip this week and needed sommething for the flight there and back and for any downtime.

I am NOT a zombie culture guy at all but I saw the book at the library and remembered the recommendation.

This book is not a zombie book. It's a tremendous commentary on politics and media with the zombies as the tie that binds.

Two drugs that were created, one that wiped out common cold and one that wiped out cancer apparently combined to create the zombie virus. Huge Rising, almost apocalyptic, new era starts with crazy groth in disease testing technology, looks at relationships, trust, ratings-driven whores, distrust of mainstream media, "liberal" vs. "religious right" method of dealing with the situation, the whole nine yards.

I can't tell you how well the thing is done. I really enjoyed it when I thought there was no effing way I would. I don't know if the author intended for all of that and to write such an effective allegorical read (at least the first book, anyway) or she wrote a zombie book that turned into this by accident, but I'm already reading the second one on the trilogy, called "Deadline".

Most chapters begin or end (or both) with one of the main characters 'blog post' about what's going on. Those would be worth the read alone.

Very good book.

YMMV

Just finished with the 3rd book in the Trilogy. It was excellent, and Peeks put it much better than I could.

Forgot it was coming out in June. Have to grab it although it was only hours ago that I downloaded the first book in the Game of Thrones series.

I recently finished Confront and Conceal by Sanger. It is about Obama's foriegn policy issues and actions. You may have heard of it since it was recently in the news for reporting that the US and Israel created the Stuxnet worm.

The book is organized into sections about counties. There are sections on Pakistan, Iran, China, and others. Each section goes into a lot of detail about each country's issues vis a vis the US. I found Pakistan section absolutely fascinating due to it's insight into how the Pakistani's try to manipulate the US by leveraging their nuc capability.

While the book is about foreign policy, it is written in a very personable style. For example, the writer had you attending key meeting where issues and actions are discussed. It does not read like a dry text book.

I found the book to be slanted possitively towards Obama but that is to be expected. People who leak information will try to put themselves in a positive light and these leakers are, or were, key players in the Obama Administration. I don't think much of the data came from disgruntled employees. :shrug It was similar to Obama's War in that respect. Keeping this perspective in mind, I think a lot of insight can be gleaned from this book both in regards to the Obama Administration as well as our various foreign policy challenges. I definitely recommend it.

Almost done with Calico Joe by Grisham, well worth the read for any true baseball fans. Short, quick read. Story of a fictional player for the Cubs in 1973 (non-fiction everything else about that season, only the player is fictional) that got off to an amazing start to his career before being plunked with a pitch that ended his career.

Very good read. Highly recommend.

"It's like dating a woman who hates you so much she will never break up with you, even if you burn down the house every single autumn." ~ Chuck Klosterman on Browns fans relationship with the Browns

Just started that today. I'm not a big reader, but I was a huge fan of Prison Break, which he wrote. Also a writer for Law & Order, Breakout Kings, and won a contest to write a Sopranos episode to get his start.

About 65 pages in. Really entertaining so far.

A God Damn dead man would understand that if a minor league bus in any city took a real sharp right turn, a Zack McCalister would likely fall out. - Lead Pipe

the story of the Dodd family...mild-mannered Chicagoan sent to be the first US ambassador to Hitler's Berlin in 1933. He took wife, his son and daughter..the daughter had affairs with the head of the Gestapo and later, a Russian who turned out to be an intelligence agent for Moscow. Things go from bad to worse...obviously...Excellent.

That prompted me to go back and read Larson's 2004 book "The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America"

This is a dual track narrative...following the story of the team of architects chartered with designing and building an entire city within a city in just over two years...to house the Chicago World's Fair of 1893...and the doctor/serial killer who schemed to abduct and murder many of the young single women flocking to Chicago at the time seeking work, love and adventure.

Both highly recommended.

But by far the best book I've read in the last year...."Hitch 22" the Christopher Hitchens memoir. Whatever else you think about the guy...and whether you lean right or left politically (he did both)...you have to be amazed at how engaged and fearless the guy was as a journalist.

the story of the Dodd family...mild-mannered Chicagoan sent to be the first US ambassador to Hitler's Berlin in 1933. He took wife, his son and daughter..the daughter had affairs with the head of the Gestapo and later, a Russian who turned out to be an intelligence agent for Moscow. Things go from bad to worse...obviously...Excellent.

That prompted me to go back and read Larson's 2004 book "The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America"

This is a dual track narrative...following the story of the team of architects chartered with designing and building an entire city within a city in just over two years...to house the Chicago World's Fair of 1893...and the doctor/serial killer who schemed to abduct and murder many of the young single women flocking to Chicago at the time seeking work, love and adventure.

Both highly recommended.

But by far the best book I've read in the last year...."Hitch 22" the Christopher Hitchens memoir. Whatever else you think about the guy...and whether you lean right or left politically (he did both)...you have to be amazed at how engaged and fearless the guy was as a journalist.

The Devil in the White City was terrific. Wanted to start the other one too but still slogging through Books 4 and 5 simultaneously of Game of Thrones. Great books but most marriages don't last as long.

Absolutely loved it. First half was as good as any book I've ever read, and I am a big fan of Richard Russo and John Irving. It's in that class. Second half gets to more traditional thriller in the style of Harlan Coben. Some people aren't happy with the ending, but what I loved about the book is that it is just so well-written -- great imagery, wonderful descriptive lines. It's more of a character study than a plot-driven book, at least in the first half. This is the book getting all the pub this year (next to 50 Shades of Grey). It deserves the hype.

the story of the Dodd family...mild-mannered Chicagoan sent to be the first US ambassador to Hitler's Berlin in 1933. He took wife, his son and daughter..the daughter had affairs with the head of the Gestapo and later, a Russian who turned out to be an intelligence agent for Moscow. Things go from bad to worse...obviously...Excellent.

That prompted me to go back and read Larson's 2004 book "The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America"

This is a dual track narrative...following the story of the team of architects chartered with designing and building an entire city within a city in just over two years...to house the Chicago World's Fair of 1893...and the doctor/serial killer who schemed to abduct and murder many of the young single women flocking to Chicago at the time seeking work, love and adventure.

Both highly recommended.

But by far the best book I've read in the last year...."Hitch 22" the Christopher Hitchens memoir. Whatever else you think about the guy...and whether you lean right or left politically (he did both)...you have to be amazed at how engaged and fearless the guy was as a journalist.

The Devil in the White City was terrific. Wanted to start the other one too but still slogging through Books 4 and 5 simultaneously of Game of Thrones. Great books but most marriages don't last as long.

I have no idea what the status is, but I do know that if the wait is going to be too long you could just have mother and gotribe put on their dragon costumes at the next TCF function and run your own version of the show. JB will make a great blonde chick whose name I forget.

peeker643 wrote:still slogging through Books 4 and 5 simultaneously of Game of Thrones. Great books but most marriages don't last as long.

4 and 5 are highly meh compared to the first 3. A whole lot of nuttin' goin' on.

Still not bad, but they didn't force me to pick them up and finish like first three did. I'm about 80% through them as I read them as one book.

What's status on next one, any idea?

5 isn't bad if you read it on it's own. 4 is very slow if you read it by itself, but I still found it quite interesting.

GRRM said that he expects both Winds of Winter (6th book) and A Dream of Spring (7th book) to run about 1,500 manuscript pages (translates to around 900-1000 print pages) each. So he has 1800-2000 pages in which to wrap up the whole thing. Hopefully that's enough, as I don't know if I want to wait 8-12 years for the end of the story.

HBO's gotta be happy though. They already have 4 more seasons to do with the books that are already out since Book 3 will be mostly split up into Seasons 3 & 4 of the show. Which should be awesomely epic.